


nice

by wuwu



Category: The Love Interest - Cale Dietrich
Genre: Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, hmu if u know dylans last name so i can change that tag lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 20:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11721624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wuwu/pseuds/wuwu
Summary: Thoughts fester and Caden wonders if he was ever really meant to be a Nice in the first place.





	nice

**Author's Note:**

> i cant,, for the life of me,, find dylans last name lol but im too tired to check if its mentioned in book so he's just. dylan.

There are times when Caden wonders how things would have turned out should he have been titled a Bad, and Dyl a Nice. He lingers on the thought for hours on end, back flush against the couch cushions with an arm slung across his eyes to block out any light. He dwells and thinks of so many _what if_ s and gets so lost in his thoughts that he never hears the door slam shut—never hears the worry in Dyl’s voice as he shakes him from his self-inflicted torment.

“You’re spacing out again,” Dyl would point out, eyebrows creased with worry that do _absolutely nothing_ to drag Caden out from his thoughts. He sees the sincerity in his eyes. He sees the way Dyl’s jaw clenches, tight and serious as he waits for Caden to reconnect. He never does. Not right away.

“Sorry.” The automatic response, the go-to answer that hangs from his lips. Caden wonders if this makes him a bad boyfriend. He wonders if keeping his thoughts—his doubts—a secret means he’s a liar. After all, he’s only been schooled in love. Never has he been in love before he met Dylan all those years ago.

“You okay? You seem to be doing that a lot.” He gestures for Caden to sit up, so he does so, only to lay his head down in Dyl’s lap in favor of sitting up. His thighs are warm and thick and strong and they bring a comfort to Caden’s senses that have him sobering up.

“Y-yeah,” he nods. He doesn’t think this is a lie. Maybe he’s such a bad person that he’s already convinced _himself_ that he’s fine. “Just tired.”

“Well, you’re always tired, so find a new excuse,” Dyl shoots back. He has a forced smile on his face, one that makes Caden’s stomach clench in the worst of ways. Dyl’s hand moves to run through Caden’s hair, fingering the newly dyed strands. He’d gone from his artificial blond back to his natural brown, even if that natural brown had to be applied at the roots every few weeks.

Caden smiles solemnly. “I’m fine, really,” he parrots. “It’s nothing I can’t deal with.” Blue eyes flutter shut as his throat catches, straining to keep his voice level.

“Okay,” Dyl gives in. He doesn’t comment on the way Caden begins to worry his bottom lip between his teeth. “But even if you _can,_  it doesn’t mean you _should_. I want to know what’s on your mind, especially if it’s been bothering you for as long as it has.”

A laugh forces it’s way out of Caden’s chest, but it does nothing to alleviate his anxieties. “We don’t have to talk about it. It’s stupid, anyway.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Dyl says. Caden opens one eye, peeking up at the encouraging gaze Dyl gives him. “C’mon. Spit it out.”

Caden opens his mouth to say something, but the words are lost on his tongue. He doesn’t know what he even _wanted_ to say. Did he want to vent? Did he want to brush Dyl off? Did he want to object entirely? He doesn’t know and it drives him _mad_. He’s got a short enough temper to lash out from the frustration aimed at himself, but instead he lets out a sigh and sits up. Dyl’s hand slides into his lap, and his affection has instead shifted into confusion. Instead of explaining, Caden hastily makes his way into Dyl’s lap, legs straddling his thighs as he holds the paramedic-in-training close and rests his chin on his broad shoulder.

“Caden?”

“I don’t—I can’t look at you,” he offers meekly. Confidence slowly seeps back into him as Dyl wraps his arms around him, offering his words in a silent touch. “Not now.”

“You gonna get me up to speed, then, babe?” His hands rub down Caden’s back and squeeze at his hips.

It takes a few seconds for the words to make their way back into his mouth. Caden swirls them around, thinks if this is what he really wants to do. He wonders if maybe Dylan will finally get tired of him, if he’ll finally be left behind because Caden can’t let go of the fucking past.

“I think about the LIC a lot,” he admits. He feels so light and airy, yet he also feels as though he’s going to sink into the ground any minute, suffocating on gravel and pure nonsense as he atones for his weakness. “I think about how different things would have been if I had been the Bad and you had been the Nice. It… I wouldn’t be here right now.

“And neither would you,” he continues in a sharp breath. “Because I’m a fucking _asshole_ and I don’t care about anyone but myself. I would have embraced my Bad mentality and I would have been _ecstatic_ when Juliet chose me over you. There would be no now.”

Dyl mulls over his words. He stays silent, breath still as Caden trembled beneath his touch. He wants nothing more than to leave—than to _forget_ —but Dylan keeps his grip on him and offers words of comfort.

“That doesn’t matter,” Dyl says. “Who cares what could have been? We don’t need any of that shit holding us back, Caden. Even if you would have won, even if you would have acted like some raging jerk, it doesn’t matter.”

“I know! But I can’t help but think about it! Because I _know_ I would have been the most fucked up Bad I could ever imagine! I’m not Nice, not like you. It’s like you were _made_ to be Nice.”

Dyl tightens his hands on Caden’s waist, head turning to speak against the nape of the brunet’s neck. The warmth of his breath stuns Caden into silence.

“Those titles were terrible and you know it,” Dyl huffs. “They don’t mean anything. Of course you would have acted like a dickhead if you were a Bad. That’s how all the Bads were. But just because you got sorted into one category doesn’t mean that that’s all who you can be. There’s more than one emotion; more than one personality trait. You don’t have to think of it as positive versus negative. People are complicated.”

Caden shudders.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes. Caden doesn’t know what for, specifically, but he says it nonetheless. “It just sucks.”

“Yeah, well, that’s something I can agree with,” Dyl sighs. He pulls Caden away from him, allows some distance to form between the two, before he rubs away the tears that hang onto his eyelashes. Caden wonders when he started getting teary eyed.

“I’ll try not to focus on that stuff anymore,” Caden nods. “All it does is bring back shitty memories anyway.”

“It’s okay to think about it,” Dyl reassures him, “But don’t let it consume you.”

As Caden stares into ethereal green eyes, he thinks, for the first time, that Dylan really is _nice_.

**Author's Note:**

> ya this is real short and simple and its 2 am so im not gonna beta this but maybe one day i'll fix this up into like ,, a 3-4k fic or smth
> 
> also im amanoyuqiteru on tumblr and @jyushikos on twitter


End file.
